Toy tractor-trailer rig

ABSTRACT

A toy tractor-trailer vehicle includes multiple separate, but connectable, vehicular components wherein a trailer is formed by a trailer bed and a separate trailer box. The trailer bed and trailer box are joined together to form a conventional toy vehicle trailer and the trailer bed is reversed and joined with the box to form a storage container for the toy vehicle housing at least the tractor. The toy vehicle may be remotely-controlled with the controller also in the storage container. The trailer box is adapted to accept panels with graphic images displayed thereon and printed by the user of the toy vehicle. The graphic images are obtained via the Internet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/385,135, “Remote Controlled Toy Tractor-Trailer Rig”, filed May 30, 2002, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to toy wheeled vehicles and, more particularly, to toy vehicles comprised of multiple components, such as a tractor-trailer rig formed by a truck cab with a box trailer.

[0003] Typically, the various elements of a toy tractor-trailer rig are not designed for ready and compact storage. A toy tractor-trailer rig which is convertible between a first play configuration and a second storage configuration wherein the second storage configuration provides for ready and compact storage of all components of the toy tractor-trailer rig would provide an advantage over the prior art.

[0004] Furthermore, it is well known in the art of children's toys that the play value of a toy may be enhanced if the toy can be in some way customized by a child user. Application of decals of the child's choosing to a toy would be an example of such customization. A toy vehicle which is adapted to display images which have been chosen and printed by the user, for example by downloading the image from a database of images accessible via the Internet, the images subsequently being printed by the user, should provide increased play value for the toy and an advantage over the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Briefly, the invention is a toy tractor-trailer vehicle comprising a tractor assembly and a trailer assembly including a flat bed trailer and a trailer box portion. The flat bed trailer and the trailer box portion are interconnected in a first configuration to form a toy vehicle trailer, and in a second configuration to form a storage container for the toy tractor-trailer rig enclosing at least the tractor assembly.

[0006] In a second aspect, the invention is a toy tractor-trailer rig, comprising a tractor assembly and a trailer assembly comprised of a flat bed trailer and a trailer box portion. The sides of the trailer box portion are adapted to accept panels with graphic images displayed thereon, the graphic images being printed using a personal computer and printer with graphic images obtained via the Internet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings an embodiment which is presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

[0008] In the drawings:

[0009]FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a radio controlled toy tractor-trailer rig, shown in its storage container configuration, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the radio controlled toy tractor-trailer rig of FIG. 1, shown with the upper portion of the storage container removed;

[0011]FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the remote controller seen in FIG. 2

[0012]FIG. 4 is an upper side perspective view of the radio controlled toy tractor-trailer rig of FIG. 1, removed from its storage container, assembled and configured for play activities;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the radio controlled toy tractor-trailer rig of FIG. 4;

[0014]FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the tractor of FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5;

[0015]FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the trailer of FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5, and

[0016]FIG. 8 depicts diagrammatically a user downloading graphics images via the internet and printing those images for use with the toy tractor-trailer rig of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting. The words “right”, “left”, “top”, and “bottom” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “interior” and “exterior” refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the tractor-trailer rig and designated parts thereof. The terminology includes the words above specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.

[0018] Referring to the figures, wherein like numerals are used to indicate like elements throughout, there is shown in FIGS. 1-8, a preferred embodiment of a remote controlled toy tractor-trailer rig, generally designated 10, in accordance with the present invention.

[0019] Referring now to FIG. 1, the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 is shown in a storage configuration 20. In this storage configuration 20, as described in detail herein later, components of the toy tractor-trailer rig form a storage container 22. Not only could this storage container 22 be used to conveniently and compactly store the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 after purchase by a consumer, but the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 could also be offered for retail sale in this configuration. The storage container 22 includes a bottom tray 120, which in a play configuration 30 will subsequently serve as the flat bed of the trailer 120. The bottom tray/flat bed of the trailer 120 is preferably molded from ABS plastic materials by techniques well known to those skilled in the art. The storage container 22 further includes a top portion 150, which in the play configuration 30 will subsequently serve as the trailer box 150. The trailer box 150 includes a front wall 158, a left side wall 154, a right side wall 156, a rear wall 160 and a top 152. The top 152, front wall 158 and rear wall 160 of the trailer box 150 are preferably fabricated from colored ABS plastic, and the side walls 154 and 156 from transparent ABS plastic, all either molded or, in the case of the side walls, cut from extruded sheets by techniques well known to those skilled in the art.

[0020] The storage container 22 contains a tractor assembly 40. In FIG. 2, the top portion 150 of the storage container 22 has been removed from the bottom tray 120. FIG. 2 illustrates that the storage container 22 also contains a remote controller 190 preferably coupled to the tractor assembly 40. First and second pairs of trailer wheels 122, 124 are also shown in FIG. 2. When the bottom tray 120 is functioning as a component of the storage container 22, the pairs of trailer wheels 122 and 124 are oriented upward and inward into the storage container 22 as indicated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows the remote controller 190 removed from the storage container 22 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The remote controller 190 preferably includes a male fitting 192 and a pivoting arm 194. When the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 is in the storage configuration 20, the male fitting 192 secures the remote controller 190 to the tractor assembly 40 by way of a female connector 58 described in detail later herein. Furthermore, the pivoting arm 194 connects to a trailer wheel axle 132 described later herein when the remote controller 190 is in the storage configuration 20.

[0021] Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 is shown in its play configuration 30, wherein the bottom tray 120 and the top portion 150 of the storage container 22 have been converted into their play configurations of flat bed of the trailer 120 and trailer box 150, respectively, and mated together. The toy tractor-trailer rig 10 includes the tractor assembly 40 along with the trailer assembly 110. For play, the trailer assembly 110 includes the flat bed of the trailer 120, first 122 and second 124 pairs of trailer wheels which can be permanently secured to the trailer 120 and, optionally, the trailer box 150. Note that no assembly or disassembly of any additional vehicular components to or from the flat bed of the trailer 120 or the trailer box 150 is required to convert the flat bed of the trailer 120 or the trailer box 150 from their storage configuration 20 to their play configuration 30. They are simply separated from one another in the storage configuration 20 and reattached, if desired, in a toy vehicle play configuration 30.

[0022] With reference to FIG. 6, the tractor assembly 40 includes a cab 48 and a lower body 52. The tractor assembly 40 further includes a pair of steerable front wheels 42, and first and second 44, 46 pairs of rear tractor wheels. The tractor assembly 40 is equipped with a pair of decorative exhaust stacks 50. The pairs of rear tractor wheels 44 and 46 include an outer tire portion 54 surrounding a hub portion 56, as are the front wheels 42.

[0023] A circular opening 64 is formed in the rear portion of the lower body 52. A female connector 58 fits within the opening 64. Female connector 58 has a plurality of resilient upright arms 60 each of which has an inwardly extending lip 62 designed to releasably engage either the male fitting 192 of the remote controller 190 or a male fitting 126 attached to the trailer bed 120, described later herein.

[0024] The front wheels 42 are steerable under the action of a steering motor 70. The steering motor 70 is housed within a steering motor box 72 and is held in place by a cover plate 74. A steering pinion 76 is attached to an output shaft (not shown) of the steering motor 70. The steering pinion 76 engages a steering sector gear 78 and acts to rotate the sector gear 78. The sector gear 78 is provided with a pin 80, which engages a receptacle 84 in a tie rod 82. As the sector gear 78 rotates, pin 80 thus causes tie rod 82 to move back and forth. The tie rod 82 engages wheel support arms 86, which are rotatably attached to hubs 56 of front wheels 42. As the tie rod 82 moves back and forth, the wheel support arms 86, and the front wheels 42 pivot side to side to steer the tractor assembly 40. A manual trim lever 88 is provided to adjust the center position of the tie rod 82.

[0025] The first pair of rear tractor wheels 44 are connected by axle 98, while the second pair of rear tractor wheels 46 are connected by axle 100. Rear axle 98 and the first pair of rear tractor wheels 44 are driven by a separate reversible motor 90 through a reduction gear train indicated generally at 96. Motor 90 rests within a bottom housing plate 66, and is held in place by motor cover plate 92. The second pair of rear tractor wheels 46 and axle 100 are affixed to the lower body 52 by an assembly plate 94. A battery power supply 67 is provided in a battery compartment open on the bottom side of plate 66 and covered by battery door box 68.

[0026] Note also from FIG. 6 that a circuit board 200 is disposed between the lower body 52 and the assembly of the bottom housing plate 66 and the motor cover plate 92. The circuit board 200 is conventional and contains electronic components which allow the steering motor 70 and the drive motor 90 to be controlled by a user operating the remote controller 190. These include a radio receiver 202 coupled with a programmed microprocessor 204. The microprocessor 204 supplies current to either motor 70, 90 through drive motor control circuit 206 and steering motor control circuit 208 from the battery power supply 67. An antenna 210 allows the radio receiver 202 to receive signals from the remote controller 190.

[0027] With reference to FIG. 7, the first pair of trailer wheels 122 is connected by axle 132, while the second pair of trailer wheels 124 is connected by axle 134. The trailer box 150 is secured to the flat bed of the trailer 120 by the interfit between the vertical ledges 136 extending both up and down from an outer edge of the flat bed of the trailer 120 and the edges around the bottom opening of the trailer box 150. The trailer box 150 is preferably further secured to the flat bed of the trailer 120 by the snap fit of a plurality of protuberances 140 on the ledges 136 into a corresponding plurality of slots 162 in the bottom side edges of the trailer box 150. The trailer box 150 rests upon a horizontal ledge 138 when installed on the flat bed trailer in either the storage configuration 20 or in the play configuration 30. An elongated vertically oriented member 142 extends in both up and down directions perpendicularly from ledge 138. The member 142 helps retain the trailer box sides 156 and 156 against ledges 136, thus helping to maintain engagement of slots 162 with protuberances 140.

[0028] A male connector 126 is fixedly attached to the flat bed of the trailer 120 at an opening 130 near a front portion of the flat bed of the trailer 120. The male connector 126 is generally cylindrical and diminishes in diameter at its upper end proximal to the flat bed of the trailer 120 to define a circumferential shoulder 128. On the depicted left side of the trailer box 150, elongated members 164 and 166 extend from the front wall 158 and the rear wall 160 into the interior of the trailer box 150, respectively, and form slots 172 and 174 between the members 164, 166 and the left side wall 154. Corresponding elongated members 168 and 170 (see FIG. 5) are provided on the right side 156 of the trailer box 150, and form slots 176 and 178 between the members 168 and 170 and right side wall 156. Cardboard panels 112 to which user generated graphics 228 (see FIG. 8) have been affixed may be inserted within the slots 172, 174 and 176, 178, respectively. Alternatively, graphics 228 may be printed on suitable paper and installed within the slots 172, 174 and 176, 178 without use of the cardboard panels 112. Cutouts 180 are provided in the sides 154 and 156 of the trailer box 150. The cutouts 180 facilitate removal of the trailer box 150 from the flat bed of the trailer 120 in both the storage configuration 20 and the play configuration 30. A hole 182 is provided in the top 152 of the trailer box 150 to facilitate manufacture of the trailer box 150. A similar hole 144 is provided in the flat bed of the trailer 120 also to facilitate manufacturing. Cosmetic plugs 184 and 146 are provided to seal holes 182 and 144, respectively.

[0029] In use, the toy tractor-trailer rig may be sold in its storage configuration 20 or alternatively may be sold in conventional packaging, with the tractor and/or remote controller not stored within the storage container 22. Starting from the storage configuration 20, the top portion 150 of the storage container 22 is removed, and male fitting 192 of the remote controller 190 is disengaged from the female connector 58. After the tractor assembly 40 and remote controller 190 are removed from the bottom tray 120 of the storage container 22, the bottom tray 120 is inverted and assumes its vehicle play configuration 30 as a flat bed of the trailer 120. The flat bed of the trailer 120 is pivotally connected to the tractor assembly 40 when the male connector 126 is snapped into place within the female connector 58. If desired, the top portion 150 can be installed over the flat bed of the trailer 120, thereby assuming its play configuration 30 as a trailer box 150. Alternatively, the trailer box 150 may be set aside, and the tractor-trailer rig 10 played with as a combination of the tractor assembly 40 and the flat bed of the trailer 120. After play, the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 may be returned to its storage configuration 20 for convenient and compact storage until the next play session.

[0030] Sides 154 and 156 of the trailer box 150 are transparent and the cardboard panels 112 are intended to support and display cardboard art supplied with the toy vehicle 10 or user printed graphics 228. With reference to FIG. 8, a user 220 may download graphics 228 using his or her home computer 222 via an internet connection 230 to the manufacturer's website located on a server 232. The graphics 228 may be printed on a printer 224 on paper 226 which may then be affixed to the cardboard panels 112 or alternatively simply inserted within the slots 172, 174 and 176, 178, allowing the user 220 to customize the appearance of his or her tractor-trailer rig 10.

[0031] It would be obvious to one skilled in the art from this disclosure that other materials (for example, metal or polyethylene plastic), fabrication techniques (for example, stamping or machining), or other relative proportions of the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 components (for example, a longer cab 14) could be substituted for the materials, fabrication techniques and relative proportions shown in the preferred embodiment of the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0032] Although a wireless remote control vehicle is described as the preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that the present invention can be incorporated into unpowered toy vehicles as well as powered toy vehicle of various forms including unmotorized vehicles, simply motorized vehicles, other types of remotely controlled vehicles or programmable vehicles. Remotely controlled vehicles may be wired or wireless and wireless control may be by radio, sound, infrared or other light.

[0033] While steerable front wheels with a steering motor are described, steering may be accomplished by independent motors independently driving one or more wheels on separate sides of the vehicle or so-called “J” steering in which a single motor moves the tractor forward and backward and either a transmission or a swinging front wheel axle causes the vehicle to turn when it is driven in reverse.

[0034] It would be further obvious to one skilled in the art from this disclosure that other embodiments of the present invention could be substituted for the toy tractor-trailer rig 10 shown in the figures. For example, a farm tractor could be substituted for the tractor assembly 12 and a farm wagon substituted for the flat bed trailer 16. Or a train locomotive could be substituted for the tractor assembly 12 and a boxcar substituted for the flat bed trailer 16 and trailer box 18 combination.

[0035] One of ordinary skill in the art would further understand that any known steering assembly, such as tank steering using separate motors to independently drive separate wheels, could be substituted for the steering mechanism disclosed herein.

[0036] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other changes in addition to those cited above could be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention. 

We claim:
 1. A toy tractor-trailer rig comprising: a tractor assembly; and, a trailer assembly including a flat bed trailer and a trailer box portion, the flat bed trailer and the trailer box portion being interconnected in a first configuration to form a toy vehicle trailer, and in a second configuration to form a storage container for the toy tractor-trailer rig enclosing at least the tractor assembly.
 2. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 1, wherein the flat bed trailer comprises a trailer bed with first and second opposing major sides and wherein the first major side is enclosed within the storage container when the flat bed trailer is used as part of the storage container and is exterior to the trailer box portion when the flat bed trailer is interconnected with the trailer box portion to form the trailer assembly.
 3. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 1, wherein a plurality of road wheels are mounted to a first major side of the flat bed trailer and wherein the plurality of road wheels are enclosed within the storage container when the flat bed trailer is used as part of the storage container and are exterior to the trailer box portion when the flat bed trailer is interconnected with the trailer box portion to form the trailer assembly.
 4. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 1, wherein at least some sides of the trailer box portion are formed from a transparent material.
 5. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 1, wherein at least some sides of the trailer box portion are adapted to accept panels with graphic images displayed thereon.
 6. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 5, wherein the graphic images are printed using a personal computer and associated printer.
 7. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 5, wherein the graphic images are obtained via the Internet.
 8. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 1, wherein the tractor assembly further comprises a chassis, a battery power source supported by the chassis, a drive motor also supported by the chassis and receiving power from the battery power source, two drive wheels located on opposite lateral sides of the chassis, at least one of the two drive wheels being operably coupled with the drive motor, a remote control receiver supported by the chassis for receiving remote radio control signals for controlling the drive motor and an antenna operatively coupled to the remote control receiver; and wherein the toy tractor-trailer rig further comprises a remote control unit with transmitter, the unit being removably contained within the storage container with the tractor assembly in the second configuration.
 9. The remote controlled toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 8, wherein the flat bed trailer comprises a trailer bed with first and second opposing major sides and wherein the first major side is enclosed within the storage container when the flat bed trailer is used as part of the storage container and is exterior to the trailer box portion when the flat bed trailer is interconnected with the trailer box portion to form the trailer assembly.
 10. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 8, wherein at least some sides of the trailer box portion are formed from a transparent material.
 11. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 8, wherein at least some sides of the trailer box portion are adapted to accept panels with graphic images displayed thereon.
 12. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 11, wherein the graphic images are printed using a personal computer and associated printer.
 13. The toy tractor-trailer rig of claim 12, wherein the graphic images are obtained via the Internet.
 14. A toy tractor-trailer rig, comprising: a tractor assembly; a trailer assembly comprised of a flat bed trailer and a trailer box portion; wherein sides of the trailer box portion are adapted to accept panels with graphic images displayed thereon, the graphic images being printed using a personal computer and printer with graphic images obtained via the Internet. 